A Rock to Stand On
by creeshonti
Summary: In the original design there were 2 types of augments, soldiers and soothers. Humanity is giving Khan and his crew 1 last chance but will it finally work, or will Khan destroy the only person who can bring him peace?
1. Chapter 1

Blackness… grey… waking… rage!

The man threw his upper body off of the cold medical table, hands reaching in the dimness for the damn Vulcans neck but he wasn't there. Was he even still alive; how long had he been in the cold grips of cryosleep this time? A year, 200 years? No way to know, but for the first time he was alone, his crew destroyed by those lesser beings, only he had survived this time… alone. He gazed around what must be his new prison, the overhead light above his table gave soft illumination stretching to stone walls on one side but not penetrating the further darkness. Stone, black stone, but the kind that had been blasted away not carved with human hands into civilized blocks. A cave? Black walls, shiny silver medical equipment, white light, no people. A colorless place. As he swung off the slab and stood more lights came on showing him a long stretch of a fully equipped medical bay. He had seen most of these machines before on earth when he had awoken last… interesting.

With long strides he stalked to the far door, his movements graceful even after just waking. The door spoke to him, a startling voice in the silence where there had only been his internal dialogue before.

Identification?

He narrowed his eyes, feeling the rage build. They thought they could keep him? Contain him? Would they never learn? With slow deliberation and carful annunciation he spoke his name.

Khan Noonien Singh

The doors slid open, and the augment king stood looking out into the hall frozen with surprise. It would seem that this time whoever had him was using different tactics… interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Star Trek and make no profit from my writing. I do own all of my OC so please contact me if you would like to use them.**

Chapter 2

He was definitely in some sort of cave system, parts of it were natural but most of the passageways seemed to have been carved out by people. There was a light strip in the floor that he was following like a dog but clearly his captors had something to show him and it was in his best interest to find out what they wanted quickly.

After several turns he ended up in front of another sliding steel door installed against the rock, but this one had an information pad stuck to the outside wall. As he touched the surface it flared to life and the smug hateful face of James T Kirk filled the screen.

"Hello Khan, and welcome to your new home. At the insistence of the Vulcans and over my protests humanity has decided to give you and your people one last shot to live in our time."

Khan's hands clenched until blood beaded out of where his nails had cut the skin, the bastard! His people were dead and gone! But even as he thought it Kirk gave the screen a knowing smirk and turned the recording device toward a brig cell just like the one Khan had occupied on the Enterprise.

"Ajit" Khan breathed the name of the glaring augment who stood with his powerful arms loose and ready at his sides, as if he could leap through the force field and strangle Kirk at any moment.

"come on tell him" Kirk prompted from out of view.

Ajit turned his eyes to the recorder and gave a respectful nod that tightened Khan's chest.

"Khan" the first time in 200 years another augment had spoken his name. "The human wants me to tell you that we are still alive, all 72 of us. The torpedos were empty… whatever that means. They say this is our last chance, if we screw it up they will kill us instead of freezing us again. They stuck you in some hollowed out asteroid in space but they won't tell me where. If you show signs of rehabilitation," the man gave a snort at this. "they say they will start sending the rest of us over in groups until we are all together again. There is one other person in there with you, apparently she is important so don't kill her right off"

"Hey! Stick to the script!" that doctor from the Enterprise reprimanded from off screen, what had his name been? McCoy. Khan had to give a small smile at Ajits angry glare directed off to the side. Ajit had always been one of the shortest augments, though he had the most impressive arms and torso out of all of them. The little Indian man hated being told what to do even by Khan himself, and with that heavy brow ridge his glare was potent.

Kirk turned the viewer back to himself "like the little man said Khan last chance, don't screw it up. When you go through the door you will see your companion, play nice!" and with that the message ended and the viewer shut off.

Khan took a moment to evaluate, similar medical equipment and Kirk didn't look much older than the last time he had seen him, he couldn't have been asleep for more than 5 years then. Good he and his people had lost too much time already.

He stepped forward and the door swished to the side allowing him entrance to the small room beyond. This one was well lit, with a standard cot set up surrounded by medical and monitoring machines. On the cot lay a woman in a dark pink civilian jumpsuit. Khan examined her briefly before turning to the to late 20's, about 5 foot 7 and unhealthy. She had the kind of build that should be padded and soft with curves of fat in all the right places, but she was far too skinny and it made her appear frail and breakable. Her hair was reddish brown and cut close to her head, like that of a long-term patient at a hospital. Even her face was off, cheeks sunken making a flat nose stand out more then it should and with stress lines that even deep sleep could not erase from around her eyes. She also smelled rather wonderful, a scent that originated from her, not any kind of perfume. He paused, odd that he noticed that.

The machines hooked up to her told an interesting story. Heart beat and brain activity monitors as well as a medication dispenser filled with sedative at a high enough concentration to set an elephant on its ass. There also appeared to be some kind of neural suppressor, also being dispensed in unsafe amounts.

Khan fiddled with the dispenser, lowering the dosage of both chemical concoctions until they would allow the woman to wake but keep her groggy and disoriented. The odds that she could hurt him physically were nonexistent but the neural suppressant added an inkling of danger, she might have some sort of mind powers.

He watched as life seemed to flow back into her. Her breathes became deeper and some color returned to her skin. Slowly her eyes drifted open, dark blue and almond shaped, Asian eyes with Caucasian color, a window into her genetics.

"well shit" she said and dissolved into the uncontrollable giggles of the overmedicated.

Khan reached out and turned the dosage a bit lower.

"who are you and why are you here" he coaxed, using his voice as the weapon it was, not to cut but to coax. She smiled at him beatifically

"I feel good, I haven't felt good in a long time" Khan frowned slightly and decreased the dosage again.

"answer my questions"

"Maria… Maria... Maria Chun. Your voice is like fur, soft fur on bare skin. Where am I? No wait, I'm on the rock… your Khan." The woman was gradually becoming more lucid. "whats my dosage?" she asked suddenly trying to focus her eyes on the dispenser. "uh oh… bump me up a touch I wont last long with just that"

"explain"

"please you don't understand I need those meds!"

"explain" Khan demanded again, fur replaced with steel.

The woman glared with unfocused eyes "bastard! If my head is clear I feel, I remember! If I feel then you feel as well, trust me we don't want that. Now you can either bump up the meds or in about 10 minutes I am going to be a raving lunatic and you will get no answers!" already her hands were twisting in the sheets and the scent in the room was growing more powerful and unpleasant. Khan increased the med flow and within a few seconds her body relaxed back and the terrified anger was replaced again with the loopy smile.

"thank you" Khan stared, unmoved, and she sighed losing the smile.

"I am Maria Chun… and I am a soother, have you ever heard that term before?" Khan frowned, he had but it was a relic of centuries before, at the time of his own creation. "You have… of course the perfect tyrant has heard of the collar that could have bound him. You know then that the augment project was incomplete, that for every perfect soldier there was supposed to be the perfect… what would you call us? Civilian? Prize? Missing piece?"

"the soother project failed, but it did not matter, we did not need you" Khan said neutrally. Of all the things he could have predicted this conversation was not on the list. Maria laughed

"didn't need us! Oh that's good, you had no ties, you were born… no, created to be protectors but the thing you wanted to protect didn't exist, you all had this gaping hole in your heart that you filled with power and money and each other. Without us you couldn't connect to the rest of humanity, you were alone." She smiled softly at his glare "its ok, without you we were alone too"


End file.
